Rotorua - 20th March to 23rd March

After a night behind Lake Rotoiti we awoke to the sound of a horn blaring from somebody driving past on the road. Clearly the driver felt we should be awake so without any hanging about we jumped up and started the day but only after cursing the driver for scaring us half to death. Once we cleared breakfast we got started on the day's sight-seeing. Arriving back in Rotorua central our first impressions were confirmed, the place stinks, literally. So our first stop had to be visiting sulphur point if only just to try and get used to the smell. I can't say much more than we nearly passed out but there was a silver lining and that is that Rachel now appreciates me when I fart as it is tame compared to Rotorua's scent. After looking around the steaming mud pools and thermals we headed back up towards the camper and on to the buried village. On arrival we waggled a good backpacker discount before entering on tour of the history of the buried village. The whole thing was quite interesting, bar a couple of screaming kids, as we learned a lot about the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 18 hundred and something! After the tour we stopped for lunch at a viewpoint before heading back towards Rotorua. The next historic stop would be McDonald's but what should have been a routine toilet stop resulted in an ice cream, but I was not complaining. As the afternoon started to run away we started the drive down Highway 5 and through some more volcanic zones. Although when arriving at Waimangu Volcanic Valley we found it to be closed for the day so without doubt we decided that we'd had enough for one day and made our way to a camp site on the edge of a small lake called Lake Rerewhakaaitu. There we relaxed long in to the evening.

The following day we rose fairly early as we were heading down to Wai-o-tapu Thermal Area, which would include a display of a geyser erupting. This eruption took place at 10.15am everyday so we guessed from the start it probably was with a little help from man. On arrival the place was already packed out with people waiting in anticipation. As we sat down waiting we noticed them dam kids again from the buried village, causing havoc again, and soon after a park ranger appeared in view. He told the story of how prisoners had discovered the geyser whilst having a wash one day many years ago. Without delay he chucked a bag full of soap down the top and within 2 minutes water was booming out the top. As we sat and watched we were sort of wowed but sort of not. We made our way into the park and spent the best part of 3 hours wandering around, viewing craters, sulphur pools and palettes of water a multitude of colours. At the end we even got to see exploding mud. The stomachs started to rumble so we took off and found somewhere to have lunch away from the smell of sulphur. After a quick bite to eat we decided to head back to the camp site at Lake Rerewhakaaitu to relax and chill for the afternoon. We did and both spent much of the afternoon reading but also hitting little flies off ourselves.

Time started to evade us as we sat reading and not before long nature was calling. As I headed over to the hole I got chatting to a lad who was also camping on the site, although not quite in a little camper like ours more like a 'meet the fockers' style. His home was pretty special and on wheels which kind of helps when going places, you could say modern day pikes with style I guess. After a few exchanges he invited me on his little boat to go trout fishing with his neighbors. Obviously I could not turn it down so jumped at the chance although Rachel decided to lay back and carry on enjoying the sun so I left her to it. For the next hour and a half I was out on the lake, watching the sun slowly fall down the horizon, and the birds start to head back to their homes for the night but unfortunately no trout were interesting in us so I missed out on seeing them get caught but did learn some useful tips. As the temperature started to fall we glided back in towards shore and I helped pull the boat ashore and then headed off for tea. Rachel was fully chilled watching Casino Royal on the mini DVD player so I got started on the food.

After dinner we were invited over to AJ's wagon. We headed over to find him cooking on a BBQ out of the back of his bus, not half bad I thought, as he threw us a beer, the first in ages I'll add. We spent the rest of the night getting some useful tips on places to see and how and where to fish! Whilst chatting away in their home it transpired his wife Donna was actually due to give birth today, which was kind of spooky, but her and Rachel hit it off well. As night set in the stars were alive, bouncing around all over the sky we said our good byes and headed back to our one bed shack and KO for the night.

On our final day in Rotorua we were set for a long one, well I definitelywas. As we left the camp site AJ chucked us two pork chops as a farewell gift and we were on our way, the first stop was the Kaituna River. I was about to spend two hours white water rafting, not like the rafting in Asia down a stream but full on waterfall rafting. This course actually included the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world, 7 metres! As we arrived I checked in and Rachel headed off for the afternoon to do her own thing, probably buzzing at the fact that she could have some time away from me for a bit. I got kitted up and we went through a kick safety briefing before being shown all the ropes by an instructor. Before I could blink we were heading down to the river. In my raft we had a Canadian and a family of 3 from Japan; a good mix. As we set off down the first rapid the breakdown in languages became apparent as we nearly flipped, luckily we stayed facing the right way up and carried on down the river. It did not take long to arrive at the main feature, 7 metres of water gushing through a 2 metre wide gap. The roar of the water was fierce, it counteracted every other sound of nature that was humming around us, as we got in our positions we headed straight for it. Within a second we were down, under the water to start off with then back up. As I gasped for air, whilst trying to hold on, we slowly came to a halt and I thought that whatever was coming next could only be tame in comparison to the monster we just came down. But, the rest of the river was far from it as we rode rapid after rapid and just to add to the fun we turned the raft around and surfed the last one. My eyes filled with water and so did the boat but eventually we arrived at the finish line. Tired after a good bout of exercise we lifted the raft on to our heads and carried it home.

As I dried up Rachel eventually arrived back to pick me up. Only an hour late, bless her, she is learning off the best about faffing about and being late. Before the evenings event I grabbed a bowl of cereal and we cruised on the net for an hour before setting off for our Rotorua in the Mitai Maori Village. Upon arrival we headed to the marquee where we would be eating for the evening. Following a quick welcome we headed over to the hangi where our food was cooking, a giant hole in the ground smoking all the meat and root vegetables, ready for us to enjoy before heading over to the river where the Maori warriors entered in true Maori style shouting and pulling faces. As they jumped out of the boat we sat down in a theatre style setting, 'basically a load of chairs outside with a roof'. The Maori warriors entered and performed infront of us before our Chief introduced us, 'tribe of 18 nations'. Thankfully there was no bloodshed as the Mitai Chief accepted us into his village; 'if he didn't I guess there would be a lot of refunds to be handed out.' As we sat and learned about the Maori people we watched a number of performances ranging from exercise skills to combat moves and right through to playing games with the bare essentials. The performance was finished off in true style as the chief stood tall and told us not to be intimidated and that they won't eat us! They finished the performance with The Haka, outstanding is the only word that springs to mind. I filmed it all as well just to show you all when I get home. Following the performance we headed back to the marquee where we got stuck into the food that had been cooking for hours, and it was unreal, especially the slow cooked lamb… and the sweet potatoes weren't half bad either. After we finished dinner we headed back into the forest where we admired glow worms in the tribe's sacred spring which was alive with eels and bubbling water. The night came to an end soon after, money well spent in a fascinating insight in to Maori life then and now. We then made the hour long journey to the coast where the next leg of our road trip would begin.